CREEPY WITCHES FINGERS

Creepy Witches Fingers image

Number Of Ingredients 12

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract (orange extract is also very tasty!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Green Food Coloring - several drops.
2 1/2 cups flour
Sliced Almonds, almond halves or whole almonds depending on what your store sells
1 (0.75 ounce) tube red coloring gel
Mini chocolate chips

Steps:

Preheat oven to 325*F In a bowl beat together butter and sugar until fluffly. This will take generally 3 - 5 minutes. Add in egg and beat well, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add almond extract, vanilla extract, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Add in a few drops of food coloring until desired green color. Add in flour 1/2 cup at a time until fully incorporated. Mixture should look like pea sized crumbs. Scoop out 1 tablespoon of dough and roll in your hands until soft and pliable. Roll out snake like with your hands and make sure to keep the indents your fingers naturally make into the dough. Lay flat onto lined cookie sheet. Continue this process until cookie sheet is full. Place an almond on one end of the finger, press slightly so the almond stays in place but doesn't squish the dough too much. Next grab a butter knife and make 3 lines at each "knuckle mark." Don't worry about too many knuckles, it's well known that witches have arthritis and funky looking fingers. Bake for 12 minutes or until cookies are BARELY golden on the bottom. Over cooking these cookies will result in hard biscotti type cookies that will work well for dunking in hot chocolate. When you remove cookies from oven immediately place a mini chocolate chip on each finger as a "wart." Once cookies are cool, pipe red gel around finger nails and at base of finger to make it look bloody. Enjoy immediately and share with friends and neighbors!